Conversation 4: Antifascism with Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Paul DeFazio and Scar Barclay

Each conversation featured in Disability Meets Architecture draws on a different productive friction and places two activists, architects, designers, writers or artists in dialogue. This one, on ‘anti-fascism,’ attends to the rise in right-wing, populist movements and their rhetoric. It asks what it means to continue to operate against the political pendulum, how to find gaps for resistance and how to fortify our movements in the face of erasure. It swings between the need to be legible to hold on to the basics of functional access versus a desire for illegibility and more expansive notions of access.This episode features Beatrice Adler-Bolton (she/her), a disabled and chronically ill writer and artist based in the U.S. who co-hosts the Death Panel Podcast with Artie Vierkant, Phil Rocco, Jules Gill-Peterson and Tracy Rosenthal. She also co-authored Health Communism (2022) with Artie Vierkant. This text sets out the history of the monetisation of health in the U.S. and identifies the necessity in a radical politics and approach which severs health from capital.Beatrice will be in conversation with both Scar Barclay and Paul DeFazio. Scar (they/them) is a UK-based neuroqueer architectural designer, whose work explores Disabled, neurodivergent, trans+ and queer ways of being. They have worked with The DisOrdinary Architecture Project since 2023. Paul (he/him[fluid]) is a legally blind architect and artist who works for Critical Design Lab and the Institute of Human Centred Design.To read the full episode transcript and learn more, visit ⁠criticaldesignlab.com⁠.Find out more about Beatrice’s work here: Websites: www.beatriceadlerbolton.com / www.deathpanel.net Instagram: @beatriceadlerbolton / @deathpanel_Bluesky: @reallandsend.bsky.social / @deathpanel.bsky.socialX: @realLandsEnd / @DeathPanel_Find out more about Scar’s work here: Website: disordinaryarchitecture.co.ukInstagram: @scarbarclay @disordinaryarchitectureFind out more about Paul’s work here: Website: criticaldesignlab.com humancentereddesign.orgInstagram: @defazio_paulAs always DMA is brought to you by The DisOrdinary Architecture Project and Critical Design Lab. Your hosts are Aimi Hamraie and Jos Boys, with Scar Barclay Paul DeFazio supporting the series production. Ilana Nevins is our editor.This miniseries is funded by The Graham Foundation.You can find out more about this project and related projects at disordinaryarchitecture.co.uk and criticaldesignlab.com.